


More Than A Spark

by asocialfauxpas (fuzzytomato)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 17:02:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzzytomato/pseuds/asocialfauxpas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don't bring a wolf to a knife fight. Or over-excited teenagers that act without thinking for that matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than A Spark

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Больше, чем Искра](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8650000) by [24redhoodie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/24redhoodie/pseuds/24redhoodie), [HSTWOg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HSTWOg/pseuds/HSTWOg), [Naty_White](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naty_White/pseuds/Naty_White)



> Thank you to ELDEE for the beta and the cheerleading and to FOOTLOOSE for assistance with some dialogue and LA_TEMPERANZA for the awesome summary :P La_temp also has done an amazing [fanfic cover!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/616342)

“Stiles! _Stiles_!”

Derek sounds frantic. That’s not right. Derek doesn’t _do_ frantic. He does stoic. He is _excellent_ at stoic. If there were awards for stoic, Derek would be the reigning champion for forever. He also does a great menacing and has intimidating down to an art. But Derek doesn’t do frantic. 

You know who does a great frantic? Scott. Scott does an amazing frantic and an even better panicked. He has levels of panicked, _nuances_ of panicked. 

But not Derek. No. Frantic and Derek shouldn’t exist in the same sentence, in the same universe even. 

It would be alarming if Stiles wasn’t floating.

“Stiles!”

There goes frantic Derek again and now he’s smacking Stiles’ cheek. It stings a little and Stiles finally realizes that there might be something amiss here. 

In fact, Stiles isn’t quite sure where he is. The floating feeling has dissipated and now he’s definitely aware of lying on his back and whatever he is on is definitely hard and he’s cold… really cold, frigidly cold. He tries to raise an arm but his limbs are heavy. He feels lethargic, like he’s spent all day lying on the couch watching trash tv and eating junk food, but even then he can manage to roll over when he drops the remote. Now he can barely get his fingers to twitch.

“Stiles! Open your eyes. This isn’t funny!”

Stiles _can’t_ open his eyes and a hysterical giggle bubbles out of his throat. His eyelids have weights attached to them. He should be able to lift them but he really can’t. It’s difficult. It’s like one of the labors of Hercules. Impossible if you’re not a demi-god.

“You never… think I’m funny,” he manages. 

And whoa. That took an unprecedented amount of effort to spit out and it sounded so _wrong_ to be him, so stilted. His brain and his mouth seem to be disconnected, which isn’t entirely unusual for him, but Stiles knows it shouldn’t be so hard to shape his mouth to form sounds. 

“Good.”

Derek sounds relieved and his voice is close, near Stiles’ ear, warm on his frigid skin. 

“Keep talking.”

Derek _never_ wants him to keep talking. 

Something is very, very wrong. 

Suddenly, Derek’s arm is strong and warm against Stiles’ shoulders, and his head is lolling on Derek’s bicep and Derek’s other arm is looped underneath his knees. And Derek is cradling him and he is a furnace. A fucking wall of heat and Stiles cuddles closer, even though it’s weird and it’s _Derek_ but Stiles is so cold and he wants to leach any warmth he can get. 

“This is going to hurt,” Derek says, and the edge of panic is back but Derek sounds a little farther away, muffled, like he’s down a tunnel and not currently holding Stiles to his chest.

Derek grunts, a sexy grunt, and if Stiles weren’t so out of it, he might analyze that a bit more but then he’s off the ground and manhandled into Derek’s arms. 

And holy _fuck_.

Pain, razor-sharp and shockingly hot, radiates from his side. His muscles seize and he lets out a cry, high-pitched and shrill. He tries to move away from it, his spine arched, his legs twitching, but Derek clamps down on him, pulls him flush against his torso.

“Calm down, Stiles. I’ve got you.”

His eyes are watering. Each breath is a painful drag. His lungs are _burning_.

The pain yanks Stiles from his sluggish haze and now every sense is intensely in focus. He can hear the embarrassing pained gasps emanating from his mouth. He can smell his own blood, metallic, heavy in his nostrils and can feel it dripping down his skin.

He finally pulls his eyes open and finds himself staring at the underside of Derek’s jaw. 

Derek _looks_ frantic. 

He’s breathing heavily but Stiles knows that jogging while carrying all 147 pounds of pale teenager isn’t much exertion for Derek so the panting has to be adrenaline or worry or….

Fuck. 

“It hurts,” Stiles whispers. 

Derek glances down.

His eyes are red and his jaw is set and Stiles is bouncing slightly in his arms as his pace increases. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, “but we have to hurry.”

Fuck. 

“I’m dying,” Stiles says because well… Derek is apologizing. Derek’s _concerned_ and every step he takes is a nifty new jolt of pain in Stiles’ side. 

“You’re not dying,” Derek barks. 

Stiles isn’t a werewolf but he can tell Derek is lying. 

His body is slowly going numb. His legs are draped over Derek’s arm but he can’t feel them any longer. His fingers, which had been clenching in Derek’s jacket, have gone slack and his eyes slide shut because he doesn’t have the strength to keep them open. It’s like the kanima venom slowly spreading throughout his body. He’s almost drifting again. 

“Talk to me, Stiles,” Derek growls. “Come on, stay awake.”

Derek purposefully jostles him but the flaring pain is now more of a dull ache and Stiles knows, somewhere in his fuzzy consciousness, it isn’t a good sign. Stiles is sliding away, he can feel it, like something is pulling him under, a thick blanket of fog settling over him like he’s drowning and is about to give into that last peaceful gasp.

He starts to shiver. 

Derek clutches him closer and Stiles vaguely wonders if it is Derek’s way of trying to keep him here even though he’s leaving. 

He’s _leaving_. 

He realizes his dad is going to be left all alone and that aches more than any physical pain ever could. The thought rouses him. 

“Tell my dad I’m sorry,” Stiles murmurs. 

Derek shakes him again. “No! I’m not your messenger. If you want to apologize to your father you’re going to do it yourself.”

Stiles would actually love to do that but instead, his body shudders and he goes ragdoll-limp in Derek’s arms. 

There is more frantic shouting and it becomes sharper as he fades into unconsciousness. 

-

Stiles wakes in the hospital. 

He doesn’t open his eyes right away but he knows it’s a hospital. He can hear the rhythmic beeping of instruments. He can feel the scratchy sheets, the heavy weight of blankets on his legs, the pull of bandages and sterile tape on his skin. His memory is fuzzy. His mouth is dry. His body is numb. 

The smell of plastic and antiseptic is achingly familiar and it brings with it sense memories of his mother that cause his eyes to sting and his breath to catch. Stiles has a hate/hate relationship with hospitals but he decides not to dwell, instead choosing to concentrate on figuring out why exactly he is in one. 

He knows he should be afraid but fear has been his constant companion since Scott was bitten by a vengeful werewolf and a little hospital stay is nothing compared to running in the dark away from an alpha, dodging the claws of a kanima or being in the crosshairs of a hunter’s bow. Fear is actually more of a comfort now, the race of his heart, the sweat on his brow, the rush of adrenaline all means he is still alive. 

It’s weird and says something about his _life_ that Stiles is happy he survived long enough to even make it to the hospital. Though, it would be nice to actually _remember_ what it was he survived but all he has is jumbled flashes that don’t make sense. 

It’s with a low groan that Stiles finally decides to open his eyes. 

He’s not ready for the sight that greets him. 

His dad is uncomfortably slumped in a chair next to him, asleep, his hand on the bed, fingers an inch from brushing Stiles’ skin. He looks haggard, exhausted and Stiles swallows as he guiltily thinks about what this has done to his dad, the memories and worry that the hospital dredges up for him. 

“Dad,” he says but his voice comes out a whisper, gruff from disuse, weak to his own ears. “Dad,” he forces out again, a little louder. 

His dad stirs, groggily opens his eyes, and jolts awake. 

“Stiles!”

Stiles tries to raise his hand to wave but finds it restrained and looks down to see an IV poking out of the back of it. He grimaces and immediately knows it was the wrong thing to do. 

“Are you in pain?” he dad asks instantly. “Do you need a nurse? I’ll get a nurse.” His dad jumps to his feet. 

“No, wait, Dad,” Stiles croaks and it is enough to stop his dad in his tracks.

“Yeah, son?”

Stiles licks his lips, a million things he wants to say running through his head, starting with _I’m sorry_ and ending somewhere around _What the hell happened?_ but his mouth feels like cotton and there is dull but persistent ache in his side that is getting sharper with each second that passes. He goes with something simple. 

“Water?”

His dad darts to the small table by the bed and grabs a cup with a straw. He holds it near Stiles’ mouth. Stiles knows he looks like the dorkiest person alive (alive!) when he uses his tongue to draw the straw past his lips but it doesn’t matter once the cool liquid hits his parched throat. He takes a few long pulls then lets the straw go and melts back into the pillows because somehow sipping water has become as taxing as a fucking lacrosse game.

His eyelids are already drooping with exhaustion when his dad sits on the bed by his hip and hits the call button for the nurse. Stiles tries to fight sliding back into sleep because he still has so many questions, but it’s difficult. 

His dad notices. 

“It’s okay, Stiles. Go back to sleep.”

“You’ll be here when I wake up?” Stiles asks, slurring a little.

He feels his dad squeeze his hand. “Yes.”

Stiles sighs. “Okay,” he mumbles before drifting off. 

-

Once Stiles is able to keep his eyes open for more than ten minutes at a time, he is allowed visitors. Scott is there immediately with a little stuffed wolf and the sheriff rolls his eyes.

“I’m going to go grab a bite,” he says, standing. He points a finger at Scott then at Stiles. “No excitement.”

“Don’t worry, Sheriff,” Scott assures. 

“Yeah, Dad, don’t worry,” Stiles calls after him. “I’ll be boring. It will be Boresville in here. The Earl of Boredom. Bored like windows in a hurricane.”

Stiles waits until he hears the door click shut and then he rounds on Scott. 

“What the hell happened?” Stiles demands. “Dad won’t tell me anything. He’s freaking out. He’s freaking me out. We’re a couple of freaks, a duo of the slightly insane.”

Scott raises an eyebrow. “You were stabbed.”

“Yeah, I know,” Stiles says, pointing emphatically to his side. “He couldn’t exactly hide that part but I don’t know by who or by what and it’s _killing_ me - almost literally.”

“Well,” Scott answers, “you went to the grocery store and you were stabbed and Derek found you and brought you to the hospital.”

“And?” Stiles prompts. “Was it hunters? One of the Alphas? Some kind of wraith or witch or something? Please tell me it wasn’t the Abominable Snowman.”

“No,” Scott says, drawing it out. “It was just some guy. He wanted your wallet.”

Stiles slumps back against the bed, winces when it pulls on his stitches. “Are you telling me,” he says, voice low and frustrated, “that I have survived a psychotic geriatric hunter, a lizard-man with poisonous claws, a serial killing teenager and an alpha freaking werewolf to almost die at the hands of _just a guy_?”

Scott shrugs. “I don’t know what to say. I’m just glad you’re alright.”

Stiles smiles. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Yeah, I’m really glad Derek was there. My mom said it was a close call.”

“Oh my god,” Stiles says, “I remember Derek carrying me.” He scrunches his nose. “Oh my god! Did I get blood in his car? Is he going to kill me? I could totally see him doing that, you know. Making sure I was okay just to kill me later.”

“I don’t think Derek wants to kill you.”

“My best friend, ever the optimist.”

Scott’s phone rings and he fishes it out of his pocket. “It’s Allison. Do you mind?”

Stiles waves him off, thinking about bleeding out all over Derek’s car and all the ways that Derek could find to end him if he really wanted. 

“Yeah, I’m sitting right here with him. He’s fine.”

Stiles makes a face. 

“Okay, not fine, but well enough. His dad won’t let him have curly fries and it is making him cranky.”

“Dude!” Stiles protests. 

Scott laughs and Stiles feels infinitely better hearing it. 

-

A few days later, Stiles has been home all of three hours when Derek climbs through his window wearing his trademark leather jacket and scowl. 

Stiles tries to act nonchalant, like he isn’t totally startled, but he doesn’t know how well it works. He sighs and spins in his computer chair, not hiding the flinch when it tweaks his wound. So much for getting a little laptop time in before he passes out from exhaustion from _riding home in the car_. And isn’t that a little bit ridiculous. 

Derek stands there, looks around, his gaze lingering on the myriad of flowers and balloons decorating Stiles’ room, then raises an eyebrow at the stuffed wolf guarding a bag of gummy bears. 

Stiles doesn’t say anything for a long minute, waits, because Derek saved him but didn’t visit in the hospital and Stiles is confused. Not that he expected Derek to visit but the rest of the pack did and well, it would have been nice, maybe, but not if Derek was only going to show up and _stare_. 

“I see you’re still allergic to using the door,” Stiles finally says because of all the virtues he possesses patience is not one of them. 

Derek glares. “I see you’re still alive.”

“Are you here to kill me for bleeding all over the interior of your car?” Stiles asks

Derek’s brow furrows in confusion. “Are you on drugs?” he counters. 

“Yes,” Stiles confirms. “A lot of them.”

“Should you be sitting in that chair?” Derek asks.

“Probably not.”

Derek takes a step further into the room, frowning, looking _concerned_ that Stiles is slouching in his chair instead of lying in his bed. Stiles would comment on it but bites his tongue because in all honesty, it’s not the most unsettling thing that has happened to him lately. (That honor goes to Jackson bringing him Get Well balloons and giving him some sort of weird one-armed hug/slap hybrid.)

“You are an idiot,” Derek says without preamble. 

“Hey! A little sympathy for the wounded here.”

Derek points a finger at Stiles. “You wouldn’t be wounded if you weren’t such an idiot.”

Stiles realizes he must be missing something. His dad had been tight-lipped about the whole affair and all Scott knew was from what his mother had told him. Derek had been there though. Derek had witnessed whatever the hell happened but Stiles had a hard time believing that he had done something stupid. Impulsive, maybe. Curious, definitely. Dangerous, apparently so. But not stupid. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Stiles responds. 

Derek sighs. “Next time, don’t get between me and the guy with the _knife_.”

And then it all floods back in. The grocery store and Stiles seeing Derek’s car in the parking lot. The sounds of a fight coming from the dark alley. Stiles’ proclivity for investigating suspect situations. The glint of a knife in the streetlight and Stiles acting without thinking.

“Holy god,” Stiles mutters. 

“Remember it now?” Derek demands. “So I repeat. You. Are. An. Idiot. You should have never been in that alley. You are not Batman!”

“Hey!” Stiles protests again. “First, I could totally be Batman. And second, I didn’t know! It could have been hunters! They could have been after Isaac or Boyd or Erica. I had to help.”

“No, you _didn’t_. You were a liability. You ended up injured and then I had to save you.”

“Sorry to put you out,” Stiles answers. He stands albeit wobbly and brushes off Derek’s hand that steadies him. “And screw you, by the way. I have been in way worse situations than a mugging or do I need to remind you?”

Derek inhales sharply, crowds into Stiles’ space. “You need to be more careful.”

“Why? Because I’m human?”

“No! Because you are important.” 

Stiles gapes, heart fluttering like a butterfly in his chest. 

Derek still looks angry. His gaze is piercing. His jaw is clenched but he also looks… he looks _freaked_. And Stiles remembers Derek’s voice, the frantic tone, the worry that permeated every syllable as he begged Stiles to talk, to stay awake. 

Stiles swallows. 

“I’m important?” he asks.

Derek nods, reaches out and clasps his hands on Stiles’ hips and Stiles trembles, bites his lip to keep a surprised noise from tumbling out. Derek is a wall of heat and muscle and Stiles remembers how Derek had cradled him to his chest, and how, even in his dazed state, he had thought about Derek in a less than platonic way. Stiles’ heart pounds loud in the silence like it could beat right out of his chest as Derek leans in, noses along Stiles’ cheekbone, behind his ear and inhales.

“You’re important,” Derek breathes. “And not just because Deaton calls you a spark.”

“Yeah?”

Derek doesn’t answer but Stiles can feel the phantom press of Derek’s lips to the hinge of his jaw, the moist pressure on his skin and the flex of Derek’s fingers along the curve of his hips. 

“Oh,” Stiles says, breathing hard. “Oh.” And then his side hurts and his knees are weak and Derek pulls him into an embrace. Stiles melts against him, wraps his arms around Derek’s neck and leans in, holds on.

Stiles isn’t quite sure how they got to hugging but he likes it, likes the feeling of his fingers clenched in the fabric of Derek’s shirt, likes the smell of the woods clinging to Derek’s skin, likes the press of Derek’s palms against the small of his back. 

“If I knew muggings led to hugging, I would’ve gotten myself stabbed ages ago.”

Stiles can feel Derek’s frown in the way his body tenses and then Derek is pulling away, brow furrowed, hands lingering for a moment and then gone. 

Stiles wobbles without support, wincing at his unfortunate talent at ruining moments, but Derek’s hand lands on his shoulder and gently guides him toward the bed. 

“I didn’t know you cared,” Stiles says. It was meant to be a quip, sarcasm is Stiles’ wheelhouse, it’s safe, known, but it comes out softer, questioning.

“Shut up, Stiles,” Derek answers but there is no heat to it.

Stiles eases down to his mattress with a pained grunt because if he doesn’t he knows he would end up on the floor for more than one reason. Derek _cares_ about him. Derek thinks he is important. It’s a hell of a revelation. 

Derek sits down next to him and watches Stiles with what Stiles knows now is his constipated worried expression. Stiles manages a grin despite the deep throbbing ache emanating from his wound. 

“You were worried about me.”

Derek huffs. “There are very few people in this world that I trust. It wouldn’t be good to lose one.”

Stiles opens his mouth to respond and closes it, his flippant reply dying on his tongue when he remembers the hours in the pool, Derek announcing he didn’t trust Stiles and that Stiles didn’t trust him. He didn’t quite believe it then but now… he knows and things have certainly changed.

“Well then, I’ll be more careful. But,” Stiles continues, “I’m not sitting out. I may not be Batman but I think I’ve earned my spot as an Avenger.”

Derek’s brow furrows again. “Isn’t that mixing universes?”

Stiles’ eyebrows shoot up. “You know that?”

“I was a teenager once.”

“And that thought is positively disturbing.”

Again, Derek doesn’t answer but Stiles doesn’t expect him too. Derek has never been great with words so they sit in silence and as much as Stiles really doesn’t understand it, Derek’s presence is a comfort. 

But Stiles is wilting, eyelids becoming heavier, and he needs to lie down before he falls over. 

Derek notices, shifts on the bed, makes an aborted movement of reaching out to touch Stiles but stops, fingers curling back into his palm. 

Stiles tries not to find it adorably awkward and fails. 

“I should go,” Derek says, standing. He stares down at Stiles for a moment, his eyebrows warring with themselves before he swoops in and catches Stiles’ mouth with his own. It’s a quick press of lips, abrupt and sudden and Stiles barely has time to register that Derek is _kissing_ him before it’s over. 

Derek walks quickly to the window. “Get some rest,” he says over his shoulder. “You’ll be needed soon.”

“Okay, big guy,” Stiles chokes out, his lips tingling.

The side of Derek’s mouth lifts in a small smile before he ducks out and is gone. 

Stiles lies down and yawns so wide his jaw cracks. It is a testament to his fatigue that he is not freaking out about the fact that Derek kissed him (that inevitability will happen tomorrow, he’s sure) and instead is sinking slowly into sleep. 

As he drifts off, Stiles reevaluates what he knows about Derek. Derek does do frantic. He also does worried and maybe he does a little fond too. 

But the big one, the huge one, is now, apparently, he also does trust.

**Author's Note:**

> a version of this fic was submitted to the TW fanfic challenge. EDIT: so just to be clear, this is an expanded and slashier version of what I submitted to the teen wolf contest. The original entry was called [Spark](http://archiveofourown.org/works/526446).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fanfic Cover: "More Than A Spark"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/616342) by [La_Temperanza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/La_Temperanza/pseuds/La_Temperanza)




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